WordPress REST API call to Update Post Status Fails Silently

Recently, I was trying to update the post status of a post from future to publish with the WordPress REST API and while the submission appeared to work, the value was not modified.

Of course, the first thing I checked was to make sure I was setting the X-WP-Nonce since I was trying to update a value (see Test WordPress REST API Endpoints from the Browser with jQuery for more information).

Finally, I realized that WordPress wouldn’t let me set the post status to publish because the post_date had not yet passed. In other words, the post was scheduled for the future so when I tried to change the status to publish, WordPress prevented this change.

I’d love to see the API response modified to return an error message when it fails like this. If anyone is looking to make an open source contribution to WordPress, I’d love this.

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.